The
top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one
knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs
exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work. So contends a
series of articles that broke today (July 19) in the Washington Post.
These
are some of the findings of a two-year investigation by The Washington Post
that discovered what amounts to an alternative geography of the United States,
a Top Secret America hidden from public view and lacking in thorough oversight.
After nine years of unprecedented spending and growth, the result is that the
system put in place to keep the United States safe is so massive that its
effectiveness is impossible to determine.
The
investigation's other findings include:
*
Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on
programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in
about 10,000 locations across the United States.
*
An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in
Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.
*
In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret
intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September
2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S.
Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.
Security
Magazine’s Blog just received this reaction from Acting Director of National
Intelligence, David C. Gompert, to the Washington Post series/
“This
morning, the Washington Post began a series of articles on the growth of the
Intelligence Community following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The reporting
does not reflect the Intelligence Community we know.
“We
accept that we operate in an environment that limits the amount of information
we can share. However, the fact is, the men and women of the Intelligence
Community have improved our operations, thwarted attacks, and are achieving
untold successes every day.
“In
recent years, we have reformed the IC in ways that have improved the quality,
quantity, regularity, and speed of our support to policymakers, warfighters,
and homeland defenders, and we will continue our reform efforts. We provide
oversight, while also encouraging initiative. We work constantly to reduce
inefficiencies and redundancies, while preserving a degree of intentional
overlap among agencies to strengthen analysis, challenge conventional thinking,
and eliminate single points of failure. We are mindful of the size of our
contractor ranks, but greatly value the critical flexibility and specialized
skills they contribute to our mission.
“The
challenges that lie ahead are difficult and complex. We will continue to
scrutinize our own operations, seek ways to improve and adapt, and work with
Congress on its crucial oversight and reform efforts. We can always do better,
and we will. And the importance of our mission and our commitment to keeping
America safe will remain steadfast, whether they are reflected in the day’s
news or not.” -- David C. Gompert
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